Albemarle announces 15% dividend increase

BATON ROUGE, La., Feb. 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The board of directors of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) today announced a quarterly dividend of $0.275 per share, an increase of 15% over the previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The dividend is payable April 1, 2014 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 14, 2014. The new annualized rate is $1.10. This announcement marks the 20th consecutive year of dividend increases.

"As we celebrate our 20-year anniversary of being a public company, today's announcement reflects our confidence in the future of the business," stated President and Chief Executive Officer Luke Kissam. "We are proud of our long history of dividend growth and expect future financial performance to allow this trend to continue."

About AlbemarleAlbemarle Corporation, headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a leading global developer, manufacturer, and marketer of highly-engineered specialty chemicals for consumer electronics, petroleum refining, utilities, packaging, construction, automotive/transportation, pharmaceuticals, crop protection, food-safety and custom chemistry services. The Company is committed to global sustainability and is advancing its eco-practices and solutions in its two global business units: Performance Chemicals and Catalyst Solutions. Corporate Responsibility Magazine selected Albemarle to its prestigious "100 Best Corporate Citizens" list for 2010, 2011 and 2013. Albemarle employs approximately 3,900 people and serves customers in approximately 100 countries. Albemarle regularly posts information to www.albemarle.com, including notification of events, news, financial performance, investor presentations and webcasts, Regulation G reconciliations, SEC filings, and other information regarding the Company, its businesses and the markets we serve.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Albemarle Corporation's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K.